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| Terror trial collapses after security services 'refuse to disclose material' | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The prosecution of a Swedish national accused of a series of terrorism offences dramatically collapsed on Monday after prosecution lawyers struggled to get information from security services. | The prosecution of a Swedish national accused of a series of terrorism offences dramatically collapsed on Monday after prosecution lawyers struggled to get information from security services. |
| Bherlin Gildo, 37, who was arrested last October on his way from Copenhagen to Manila, was accused of attending a terrorist training camp and receiving weapons training between 31 August 2012 and 1 March 2013 as well as possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. | Bherlin Gildo, 37, who was arrested last October on his way from Copenhagen to Manila, was accused of attending a terrorist training camp and receiving weapons training between 31 August 2012 and 1 March 2013 as well as possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. |
| He was impassive when he heard the decision via a link between Belmarsh prison in south-east London and the Old Bailey. | He was impassive when he heard the decision via a link between Belmarsh prison in south-east London and the Old Bailey. |
| Riel Karmy-Jones, for the crown, told the court that having reviewed the evidence it was decided there was no longer a reasonable prospect of a prosecution. | |
| “Many matters were raised we did not know at the outset,” she told the recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard, who lifted all reporting restrictions. | “Many matters were raised we did not know at the outset,” she told the recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard, who lifted all reporting restrictions. |
| Gildo was arrested at Heathrow airport while transiting through Heathrow airport. He had not crossed the UK border and had not intended to enter Britain. He was charged with receiving terrorist training and weapons training in 2012 and 2013 and of possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist. | |
| The decision to drop the charges – the third time in a Syria-related case in the past six months – is embarrassing for the security and intelligence agencies. It seems they did not want to reveal their activities in Syria and Iraq and their role in helping opponents of the Assad regime. | |
| The attorney general was consulted about Monday’s decision and is likely to have consulted ministers in turn. | The attorney general was consulted about Monday’s decision and is likely to have consulted ministers in turn. |
| At an earlier Old Bailey hearing, Karmy-Jones had said that “third parties” held material that the defence had asked to be disclosed in preparation for the case. Defending, Henry Blaxland QC responded that his material was under the control of government ministers – in effect, the security services . | |
| After Monday’s hearing, Gildo’s solicitor, Gareth Peirce, said his case had exposed a number of “contradictions” – not least that the matters on which he was charged were not offences in Sweden, and that the UK government had expressed support for the Syrian opposition. | |
| “He has been detained in this country although he did not ever intend to enter this country. For him it’s as if he has been abducted by aliens from outer space,” she said. | |
| “The process is beyond comprehension for a Swedish man who has committed no offence in Sweden who went to Syria to help defend the Syrian people in late 2012. He returned to Sweden, had committed no crime there, lived there for the next twoyears, by an accident of fate, clicked on the cheapest flight to go and join his wife in the Philippines and then had the misfortune to chance it through Heathrow airport.” | |
| Peirce said said said there had been a fair amount of “responsible reporting” over the last two and a half years that all the allied countries that opposed the Assad regime were supplying arms to the resistance. | |
| “Given that there is a reasonable basis for believing that the British were themselves involved in the supply of arms, if that’s so, it would be an utter hypocrisy to prosecute someone who has been involved in the armed resistance.” | |
| She went on to say that the former foreign secretary, William Hague, had described the situation in Syria as the worst humanitarian crisis of this century and the British government stood behind the resistance by sending non-lethal support. | |
| Even if the government was not willing to “own up” to sending arms directly or indirectly, it was wrong to prosecute someone in Gildo’s position under the Terrorism Act, Peirce said. Gildo’s defence team had been seeking disclosure about this to support their argument but nothing came, she said. | |
| The Press Association contributed to this report |